Crimson Floe
by Melkor44
Summary: The story of their romance, though not quite told as it happened, is nonetheless a story saved for those days when their children will want to know, or have it re-told. In all honesty, they don't much know where to start...but they have to, and so they try. (DeathlyFreezeShipping, because they're my two favorite characters and there's gotta be someone else on here who ships them.)
1. Chapter 1

She didn't know what it was that drew her to him, what facet of his flat personality that made her gravitate towards his presence. All the same, however, his mark on her life was reflected in her daily life and actions; the way she walked, the way she talked, her hair and her glasses...the list went on. Not the least of his influences was the way her eyes chilled, becoming stone-hard in the heat of battle; she hid her emotions well outside of her duties, but even _he _was unable to read her thoughts when they challenged one another. While his own eyes were bloody pools of hollow flame, silent and unforgiving, hers were a blue steel that let no warmth pass.

People liked to claim that either opposites attracted, like Magnemite and its evolutions, or that Flying-types of a feather would flock together...but nobody, not even the two themselves, could truly figure out just how the relationship worked. They never fought, or even argued; any public shows of affection were few and far between. He was a mute who hated self-weakness with a passion, a fighter who fed on his own fears and anxieties to drive himself to victory. She was the anti-social ice queen, a title that was as ironic as it was true, and her partner Pokemon reflected that...speaking of which, she had more Pokemon than friends. (Which wasn't to say that she didn't view the creatures as friends, but she could never really understand their speech in the same way that he could.) He was the strongest Trainer in history, save perhaps for Samuel Oak or some of the other previous Champions of various regions; at the very least, he was the most famed Trainer of all time. It had taken a grand total of two months for him to leave Pallet Town and become the Champion of Kanto on his fourteenth birthday. While his assembled team was fairly riddled with weak points, he'd made sure to blanket his team with some of the harshest training a living creature could endure.

She had been considered the weakest of the Kanto Elite Four, despite the fact that their types moved in a broken circle. If Lance had been moved beneath her in their order, then the cycle would make sense; Dragon was weak to Ice, which lost to Fighting, which was defeated by Ghost. She didn't doubt that she could butcher Lance's teams any day of the week, no matter which of his precious dragons he chose to use in their bouts.

...all the same, however, they were an "official" couple. They went on dates, occasionally held hands, and did other things that couples supposedly did. Once, he'd even surprised her by kissing her in public; it had been one of very few times that she'd ever blushed.

Their dates were often strange, near-formal, and generally awkward, though such thoughts would only truly arrive in the minds of those who didn't know either of of the pair; neither had been in any kind of romantic relationship before, though it was a conscious choice that both had made, and so they didn't truly know what they were supposed to do. That didn't particularly bother them, however...they were both serious-minded introverts who really just wanted to be left alone to themselves. She was more seriously affected by her inward spiral than he, who was forced to bear it for his position as Champion, and rarely smiled at all; when she did, he knew that it was a confirmation of her care for him.

He tried to do the same for her, as she was far more nervous than him. A smile meant that you were important, between them, since he couldn't speak and she rarely chose to. She was frosted precision, and he was burning rage. She was calm, cool, collected, logical...and he only appeared as such because no sound could move past his lips. Her battle strategy was thought-out, cut and measured to exactness. He ran off of exhilaration, panic and even fear, though there was no small amount of pure instinct. It was something about him, one of many things, that never failed to confuse her.

She could only see his inner self for a few moments each day, and that little while was fine for her. Waking up beside him, only to find that he was already staring at her with those crimson eyes of his, was never discomforting or shocking to her sense of self-space; he would kiss her forehead as a wake-up greeting, and then on the lips to reassure her (as she sometimes needed) that he was still hers. Depending on what had happened in the previous day or night, he might even smile at her as well. Just for the hell of it, he occasionally let slip a grin that she knew she'd been the only one to see; it was toothy and beaming. He'd touch his forehead to hers and lock her eyes with his own...while she couldn't see too well, since her glasses were gone, she knew that he'd never given that damnably adorable look to anyone else but her.

When he'd gone to Mount Silver, to train himself and eliminate all of the self-weakness that he so despised, she'd gone with him; he'd needed a guide, and she'd been in far harsher temperatures than those of the mountain's barren peak. She'd stayed for the years he spent there, knowing that they would both be replaced at the League with Trainers who were good enough...and she told him, on a day that was five years after he'd come, that he'd been without weakness for as long as he'd been the Champion. If he hadn't been, of course, then why would he have remained undefeated for more than eight years as a Trainer?

He'd rolled his eyes, but gone along with her obvious ploy. He'd gotten tired of the constant meditation, and the chilling weather, though he'd faced a few challengers that had been interesting.

He always enjoyed the looks she gave him, as she was never angry...at least, not at him. At most, she was annoyed with him. In any case, he'd learned to identify her mood at a glance; it had been a clear and sunny day, miraculously without snow or hail, that he'd seen a look in her eyes that was unidentifiable. He was nineteen, and a quick round of mental math allowed him to remember that she was two years older than him...and it had been that night, amid screams and silence, that he'd first smiled at her.

After leaving the mountain, he decided to forego a return to Pallet Town; instead, he went to Lorelei's home on Four Island. It was something that she'd always been against, with vehemence, and he learned why as he surprised her with his company: her house was filled with plush dolls, one for every Pokemon that could be found in Kanto or Johto. When she'd gone to the store one day, getting groceries and the like, he'd cheesily arranged their preferred battle-teams of six Pokemon into the shape of a heart. When she'd gotten home, the surprise was complete; she'd wrapped his larger frame in a hug, trying to laugh off her light blush, but he'd noticed when she'd given him "that" look again.

It had been a fun day, with a very long night.

He'd taken her all around the world, since he could afford to, and they went to all the wonders of the world. They had traversed the majestic mountains that straddled the Kanto-Johto border, as well as the ever-present ruins in the latter. The Sevii Islands held their own sets of ruins and mazes, as well as the famed Mount Ember. They went through Hoenn's divided state by land and sea, exploring underwater trenches and a desert or two...as well as the infamous Sky Pillar, home of Rayquaza. In Sinnoh, they'd gone to the trouble of climbing through Mount Coronet and the region's Underground tunnels. Isshu was perhaps the most fun for both of them; he'd taken her to Nimbasa's somehow-romantic Ferris Wheel.

It had been in Undella Town, with the help of the visiting Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia, that he'd made a ring out of a nugget and a red diamond...not that he gave it to her immediately. He would wait, as Cynthia had cautioned him. (Surprisingly, she'd been able to correctly interpret his mute gestures after a short battle which she lost.) It was for a special occasion, and he was narrowing down the list of places where he might reveal the ring to Lorelei.

When the pair had returned to Kanto, she had gone straight to Four Island; he, however, had elected to do a run-through of the joint Elite Four. After crushing them with much greater ease than previously, he'd gotten Bruno and Lance to sketch out a rudimentary plan with him.

The pair had a picnic at Cerulean Cape, though it was small and simple: sandwiches of different kinds, lemonade, salad, and the like; they had one another as well, later, but that's a story for a different time and fiction rating. He'd thought about offering the ring then and there, damning the plan, but chose not to. After all, the plan was much better with time and place.

He'd taken her out to each of the places that had been important to the pair over the years, though they were all in Kanto this time; not the least of those destinations had been Mount Silver, but even the frostbitten mountain didn't seem appropriate enough a place. None of them did, and he understood why: he needed to choose the place that was important to her, and her alone, so that he could make it a place that would truly bind them together.

When he was twenty-two, and she had yet to turn twenty-four, he'd woken up early to scribble a note down onto a piece of paper. Grabbing a piece of toast, and nearly inhaling a tall glass of water, he'd left for Icefall Cave...and promptly fallen asleep with his back to the wall, in the chamber where he'd helped her fend off Team Rocket. Only luck, or perhaps an attuned sense of hearing, allowed him to wake in the seconds that preceded her arrival. She'd recalled her Lapras, looking mildly irritated, while she waited expectantly.

A miniature ball was tossed, which she enlarged while she walked to him. When she was just a few feet from his sitting form, he watched her open it...and sat up a little straighter, with his back flat against the ice that constituted as a wall. She'd crouched down, her face unreadable as he stared right into her eyes, and a very special sort of dread began to well up inside of him. She was silent for several seconds, which was more than enough for the terror to take hold of his heart and begin trying to tear at it; he refused to lose this game of strength, though he closed his eyes as he began to feel the unfamiliar pricking sensation in the backs of his eyes...it was in that instant that she spoke.

"What took you so long, you ass? I should've been expecting this years ago!"

He'd inwardly damned her absolute emotional control, though he was willing to bet that it was only a facade. He also knew that it was one of the things he enjoyed about her: she could be unpredictable when she wanted to, and he loved it...his eyes opened to find her pressing herself against him, preparing to attack his mouth with her own, and he felt a laugh that would never be heard.

On their kitchen table was a letter, which led to the diamond-encrusted band of gold that was wrapped around her left ring-finger.

_Lorelei,_

_I'm in the final room of Icefall Cave. I hope you'll like the present I got you! I've been trying to think of a way to give it to you that wouldn't just be random, and I thought that today would be a good day. I don't think you're going to be disappointed...and, you know, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!_

_Love,_

_Red_


	2. Chapter 2

**In a rare fit of inspiration, I decided to make this a short two-shot...but it's not going to move on.**

* * *

He stared at his father, his young mind trying to think of a way to properly phrase the question. He had traits from both of his parents, well-mixed into a boy who would grow up and be a powerful Trainer in his own right. His mother's crimson hair, his father's blood-red eyes, quiet and thoughtful; it was like one Legendary or another had gotten it into their head that the child must be entirely different, mentally and physically, than his parents. For all intents and purposes, he was just a normal child with a penchant for deep thoughts and deeper actions...at long last, as the father had waited for his son's words, he heard them.

"Why do you stay with mommy and me?"

His gaze didn't leave the child's face, though he scribbled out a note in his type-like way; it was like looking at words on a computer screen, entirely neat and orderly despite all things that should have prevented it from being so.

_Because I love her. And you._

"So you love her? That's why you stay here?"

_Yes. But you know how much she hates you call her "mommy." It makes you seem like a baby._

"Why do you love her? How did you fall in love with her?"

He was, momentarily, taken aback. How could he hope to list all the things about Lorelei that fascinated and captivated him? Explain the moments that they shared, in the light or the darkness, to a boy who was just beginning to think about romance and crushes and things that his parents had never considered in their youth?

There was only one way, he realized; he would have to try.

_I don't really know. One day I wasn't, and the next day I was. Maybe it was the way her eyes sparkle in the light, like they're bits of ice that throw the sun right back at you. Maybe it's the few smiles she gives me, or the laugh I know she holds in when she's got me pinned to a corner in our battles. She's never been mean to me, or impatient, or anything but helpful and considerate. I enjoy being with her, and around her, and I know she feels the same way._

"Is that why she wears the ring around her finger?"

He laughed, inside of his head, at the boy's connection and assumption.

_...maybe. The ring stands for something else, though. The ring is a promise._

"That you'll always be together?"

_No. Lots of people wear different kinds of rings, and some people who wear "special" rings might take them off because they stop loving the person it reminds them of. Like the one I wear around my neck, which was your grandmother's...I keep that one to remind myself that there are people who are close to me no matter how far apart we might be._

"So you're close to mom, even when she's far away?"

He nodded at the child's question, and waited for the next one to come.

"That doesn't make sense, dad. I thought you were supposed to love people who made you happy!"

_Most people do, but there's some people who love people that don't make them very happy. Sometimes, the people they love can even make them sad._ _I'm lucky, though, because your mother makes me VERY happy...though I can't always tell that she feels the same way, since she likes to hide her emotions. Sometimes, I don't even know what she's thinking or feeling! It can be a little confusing sometimes, but that can make it a lot more fun._

"How do you have fun when you don't know something? You and mom have been together for EVER! Don't you know everything about each other?"_  
_

Again, he wanted to laugh. He cursed his muteness, but answered again; he had to write on a new sheet of paper.

_No, we don't. In fact, I'm pretty sure that there's still a lot that I don't know about your mother. It's actually a lot like a battle: I don't know what's going to happen next, so I have to guess. She keeps me guessing, and it can be very exciting at times._

"But doesn't it get boring sometimes? It's like a puzzle that has no answer!"

_With you around, James, there's never a dull moment. Whenever I get tired of being around your mother, which doesn't happen very often, it means that I get to spend time with you. That's just as much fun as being with her, and even more exciting than travelling around the region like I did when I was younger. In fact, I was a little older than you are now...but, to answer your original questions, I think I'll want to use a new sheet of paper._

After the boy had gotten his father the requested piece of paper, the man had smiled and written a note similar to the one he'd made all those years ago.

_Lorelei,_

_James asked me why I loved you, and how I fell in love with you. At first, I didn't know what to say to him or how to tell him something like that. You probably would have been better at it, I think. You're much better at explaining things that I am. It was fun, though, since I got to think about you and all the reasons that I love you, so I decided to pick the ten things, in no real order, that answer that question best:_

_10: When you wake me up after I sleep in, the same way that I always do to you_

_9: The time we spent on Mount Silver (and that you managed to get me down from it!)_

_8: Getting to go around the world with you_

_7: You're one of the kindest people I've ever met_

_6: You are a wonderful mother to our son_

_5: When we fought against Team Rocket together in Icefall Cave_

_4: We had a picnic with Mewtwo, of all things, inside of Cerulean Cave (remember how nice it was to us?)_

_3: All of the ways you can keep me on the edge of my seat, waiting for what comes next_

_2: You've always been patient and caring and understanding towards me_

_1: Your existence is what validates my own_

_Love,_

_Red_


End file.
